The Detroit Pistons finally did something that Atlanta and Cleveland had failed to do. They beat the Boston Celtics on their home court of the TD BankNorth Garden on Thursday night 103-97 to even the Eastern Conference Finals at 1-1. The series now heads to the Palace at Auburn Hills for Games Three and Four where the Celtics will now actually have to win a game on the road if they plan on advancing to the finals.
It was a great game as we watched two former UConn guards Richard Hamilton for Detroit and Boston’s Ray Allen have a second half shoot out. Allen finally came out of his playoff funk shooting 9 of 16 from the field with a pair of three pointers. But it was Hamilton whose baskets were the biggest especially the runner in the lane in the final minute of play.
The deciding factor if you look at the stat sheet was three point field goal percentage. Detroit hit on half of theirs while Boston was at 28%. Both teams shot 49% from the field and both teams were at nearly 90% from the line.
Detroit was led by Hamilton with 25 points, for Celtic draft pick Chauncey Billups had 19 points and Antonio McDyess had 15 points.
Boston was paced by Paul Pierce who had 26 points, Allen knocked back 25 points and Kevin Garnett added 24 points and 13 boards.
Game Three will be Saturday night at 8:30 at the Palace as Detroit will try to be the first team to take a series lead against Boston in this years playoffs.
I hate to say it, but I think that the Celtics are toast. Maybe they’ll surprise me and win a game in Motown, but I’m not holding my breath. After all, this is a team that couldn’t win a game in Atlanta or Cleveland, for crying out loud! They have played soft throughout the playoffs, and now it’s finally come back to bite them.
BHG
If they want the banner they have no choice but to win on the road to get it back to Beantown.
Well as much as I’d like to say a win on the road will get them to the finals, that really isn’t the case because Detroit has proved through out the playoffs they can win on the road and they’ve won in Boston this year prior to last night’s game. It’s imperative that the Celtics win one of these next two games, you do not want to go bak to Boston down 3-1 and needing a win. Because even if that’s the case and win Game 5 they’ll stil have to go to Detroit for Game 6 down 3-2.
This team needs to play in Detroit like it did all year. They’ve won there before and they can do it again. LAst night the clubs were pretty even, it was the Pistons 3’s that gave them the edge in the end.